


You Will Be The Death Of Me

by HomuraBakura



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Pre-Series, Sacrifice, Songfic, briefly implied bracelet girls/yuuboys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 09:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8440948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: if you wanna fight with methen go ahead it's destinycause all I wanna do is set you freeyou will be the death of me





	

**Author's Note:**

> [song lyrics taken from AmaLee's cover of X.U. from Owari no Seraph, originally performed by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] ]

“Fucking shit!”

A few more words that her father would be mortified to hear rolling off her tongue slipped out—her elbows were road burnt from her sudden friction against the concrete and there were tears in her riding suit. Fuck, her dad was going to be so mad, she had JUST bought this new suit! Ray groaned, her head still spinning—had she hit it on the road when that guy had slammed into her? If she got a concussion before her big match....

“What the _fuck_ , watch where you're going!!” she growled, trying to sit up despite the weight that was still flopped over her.

“Shit, shit, shit...”

The other voice finally got Ray to lift her head, glaring at the dude that had just smacked into her. He scrambled back up, not even looking at her as he scrabbled to his hands and knees to try and pick up...trading cards? Oh, Duel Monsters cards—was he late for a match or something?? Hang on, though, those cards looked pretty banged up...definitely not tournament legal in that condition. How could he have let them get that bad?? Some of them had fading art or ripped fronts and crinkled edges and some were even missing pieces—oh god, the poor monsters....

“What the fuck!” she said again, pushing herself to a sitting position.

“Look, I'm sorry, okay?” he snapped at her—he was about her height, she thought, his spiky gray hair slick with sweat against his forehead, yellow eyes not even on her as he scrambled to pick up the cards. “You didn't have to be standing in the middle of the fucking sidewalk.”

Ray leaned forward to snatch a few cards off the sidewalk.

“What happened to these?” she said, waving them at him as she felt her face flush with anger. “How could you treat your cards like this?”

“They're—I didn't do this!” the boy said, his face flushing and eyes snapping to her. “How could you—”

“Hey you fucking nerd, get the fuck back over here!”

Ray squinted, still dizzy from her fall. The boy's shoulders tensed as his gaze flickered over his shoulder. Ray didn't recognize the pair that slouched towards them, but she automatically disliked them—something about their varying spectrum of shit-eating grins or scowling grimaces.

The boy at her side immediately curled his shoulders over the cards in his arms—protective, his teeth actually baring as though he were about to hiss.

“Who said you could take our cards without askin', huh?” the tallest of the pair said, a skinny girl with short, curly hair and bubble gum smacking in one cheek. “That's stealing, isn't it?”

“You were hurting them,” the boy said, almost hissing.

“Hell, they're just paper,” the shorter one said, a sweaty looking kid with pudgy hands and a gross flopover of greasy hair. “Aren't we allowed to do what we want with our own stuff?”

“They're not toys for you to rip apart whenever you feel like it,” the boy spat. His shoulders curled up tighter, hunching over the cards.

Ray's fingers tightened around the cards in her fingers as her eyes darted back and forth between the boy and the pair. She figured out what had happened pretty easily—these assholes had been fucking around with the cards, and this boy that had run into her...he was trying to protect the cards...

“They're just trash cards anyway, they're no good for anything,” the girl said with a loud pop of her gum. “Why do you care?”

Ray's heart clenched, and her jaw tightened. She shoved herself to her feet, and immediately, all three pairs of eyes were on her. She unhooked the duel pad from her thigh strap and snapped it to her wrist, turning it on.

“You want these cards back?” she said. “Duel me for them.”

For a moment, no one spoke. Everyone just stared at her incredulously. Then the girl laughed, running a hand through her hair as she almost bent over.

“Oh my god,” she said. “Is this your girlfriend, Zarc? Does she let her heart bleed out all over the cards too??”

“What are you doing?” the boy said, his yellow eyes narrowing with suspicion.

Ray ignored him, unclasping the button on her deck box at her waist and slipping the cards free. She pressed them briefly to her cheek.

“Will you fight with me today, loves?” she whispered.

She saw the boy's eyes flicker with surprise, his lips parting, but she was too busy listening to the hum from inside her deck as her monsters affirmed, yes, they would fight. They would always fight alongside her. She set her deck and activated the disk.

The other girl snapped her bubble gum with a grin as she turned her own disk on.

“You're gonna regret this,” she said.

“I doubt it.”

In the girl's defense, she at least managed to survive two turns.

Ray turned off her disk as the pair scrambled off down the street in a panic, throwing swears and curses over their shoulders at her. When she glanced down, the boy was looking at her with his mouth wide open.

“I hope you're happy,” she said, running a hand through her bangs. “I've missed my match by now.”

The boy swallowed, his hands shaking around the cards.

“You...you can hear the monsters too?” he whispered.

She froze. Slowly, her hand dropped from her head as she turned to meet his eyes, full on this time, not looking away.

“...you mean you can, too?” she said.

. . .

_all this time, I never meant you harm_

_so come may, what it is you I have sworn to protect_

. . .

Zarc tumbled backwards, landing spread-eagled on the ground. For a second, Ray thought she had actually hurt him—and then she heard the laughter rolling out of him, and she rolled her eyes.

“For the love of God,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “Is this a game to you or something?”

“It is a game, isn't it?” Zarc said, grinning up over his chest.

She couldn't help but chuckle herself, turning off her disk as she wandered over to him. She plopped right beside him, resting her elbows on her knees—the breeze stole at her pigtails, rustling them against her shoulders. It was quiet in the park today, a gloomy, overcast sort of day that said rain was coming. Perfect for her's and Zarc's purposes.

“I can't believe that the Real Solid Vision is actually turned off on your disk,” he said, twisting his head to look at a few of the score marks on the ground. “I can't actually believe that you can make the monsters real.”

“I mean, I warned you,” Ray said.

Zarc twisted his head back towards her with that huge, sparkling grin of his that seemed to take up his entire face—it was the kind of smile that was hard to not smile back at, and sure enough, she felt her own lips starting to spread outwards.

“It's amazing,” he said. “You could always make them solid—even before Real Solid Vision!”

“Yeah, well, it's not all great, you know,” Ray pointed out. “I've scared a lot of people off with it.”

 _I've_ hurt _a lot of people,_ she thought, her arms tightening around her knees. She tried to banish the memories of children crying on the playground with bleeding arms, running away from her when she tried to apologize, tried to suppress the feeling of flinging her Duel Disk away from her in horror as she realized what she had done.

For a moment, Zarc didn't speak. His hand trailed briefly to the small of her back, and she leaned back briefly against the touch.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I didn't mean to...bring up bad memories.

“It's okay.”

They didn't talk for a long time.

“It was nice, though,” she whispered. “I always loved them...my monsters...it was nice that I could...bring them out whenever I needed...someone.”

She glanced over towards him, and found that his eyes were on the sky now. The breeze played with the green streaks in his hair, setting his bangs dancing over his eyes. His eyes were far away—she knew that look.

“I could always hear them...see them,” he mumbled. “But until Real Solid Vision....they were always...so far away...”

Ray considered him for a long, long moment. Then, with a sigh, she flopped down so that she was laying right next to him, her head resting on his arm. He jumped a little.

“Ray?”

“Hush,” Ray said. “Just let me sit here.”

He did, and after a beat, his arm curled around her, pulling her closer to him so that her head could nestle against his chest. His heart was warm, and she could hear it beating against her ear. She sighed, letting her eyes close.

He was like her. He could hear the monsters. He couldn't make them real without her father's Real Solid Vision system, but he had been able to hear them...he had wanted to protect them....

He sucked in a breath as her hand moved over his chest, and she hesitated. That didn't sound like a good sound. She opened her eyes, and saw Zarc looking stoically up into the sky. She poked him in the same spot experimentally and he winced.

“You have more bruises,” she said, eyes narrowing.

“It's fine.”

“No, it's _not_.”

She pushed herself up onto her hands and pulled herself over him, her hands on either side of his head so that she could look down at him, and break his view of the sky. He tried to turn his gaze away.

“You got into another fight again,” she said. “Don't lie to me, Zarc.”

Zarc's jaw tightened. But he relented after a beat.

“Some kid tried to drop a level one monster down the well again,” he muttered. “I told him I'd take it off of him, but he just laughed at me and dropped it anyway. The bruise is from hitting myself on the side when I climbed down to get it.”

“ _Zarc_.”

“What?? Should I have just left him down there all alone??”

“That's not what I meant, and you know it! You know I would have done the same—but you're reckless, Zarc, you're going to get yourself seriously hurt one of these days!”

Ray's hands curled up into the grass on either side of Zarc's head as Zarc's gaze met hers full force, vibrating and intense—challenging. She had learned to expect that gaze from him in the weeks that she had gotten to know him—her heart had learned to skip a beat every time that gaze met hers.

She was pretty sure she started first, but in her defense, his hand moved pretty quickly to the back of her head as she leaned down and crashed her lips against his. He was always aggressive when he kissed her, always challenging, and she was always more than happy to respond. He moaned into her mouth as her teeth nicked his lips and then they were breaking apart, gasping for breath. She had fallen on top of him somewhere in the middle of the kiss and now she was just laying across his chest, her face against his.

“You're going to get yourself hurt someday,” she whispered into his ear, her hands curling into the fabric of his shoulder pads. “You're going to get so hurt that there's no going back.”

Zarc didn't answer for a moment.

“I'll always come back,” he mumbled after a few beats. “I...I promise.”

His hand stroked down her back, slowly, gently, massaging. One hand played with her hair.

“Because...because with you, I'm not alone anymore,” he whispered. “We're...we don't have to be alone anymore. We're not...we're not freaks if we're together...right?”

He laughed hollowly. She snorted, but didn't say anything in response. She just tightened her grip on him, pressed her nose into his hair so that she could imprint the scent of him into her brain forever. What a reckless kid he was, she thought. Getting into fights over people who tried to rip up cards....getting cornered in allies by people who laughed at him when he talked about his ability to hear the monsters...throwing himself into wells after dropped cards....

What if someday he fell into a well and never climbed back out? What if he...what if he left her all alone again?

 _I'm going to protect this asshole_ , she thought. _Whatever the fuck it takes._

. . .

_so don't take all of the blame, we're all at fault_

_ah wait don't take all of the weight – you always do_

. . .

Zarc actually stumbled to his knees as he exited the arena. Ray bit back a swear as she ran over to him, grabbing him by the shoulder to support him.

“What the fuck, Zarc, oh my god—you're bleeding.”

“Not...not that badly.”

“It's bad enough, goddammit—come over here, let me see.”

It was a testament to how tired he was that he didn't protest as Ray guided him over to a bench in the waiting room. She pushed his bangs out of the wall to see the thin gash in his forehead. Outside, she could still hear the faint roar of the crowd as they began to leave, and a stab of anger flared up in her.

“This is horrible,” she said. “I can't believe—they're cheering for this.”

Zarc shrugged.

“It's just the way the monsters want to fight, anyway,” he said. “They like it, so...”

“Zarc, you can't keep doing this. This is wrong.”

Zarc's lips curled for a moment, and then his face fell. He ran a hand through his hair, looking dizzy and distant.

“I'm just...following expectations,” he mumbled. “It's on me, I'm the one that started this, anyway. And the crowd's enjoying it...”

“No, this isn't—this isn't your fault,” Ray said, her heart fluttering. She took his face in her hands and pressed her forehead to his, closing her eyes to breathe in the smell of his breath. “Zarc....Zarc please. You have to stop this. This isn't...this isn't you.”

Zarc didn't respond. After a beat, he put his hands on top of hers.

He slid her grip from his face, and she opened her eyes, lips parting.

“I'm fighting for us,” he whispered, his voice vibrating in the air.

She could only stare at him, her hands still clasped in his.

“....what?”

Zarc dropped one of her hands so that he could cup her face, tilt her towards him. She wanted to melt at that touch the way she always did, her brain flickering back to quieter moments in darker rooms when his hands were trailing down the small of her back and sending tingles across her bare skin. But she couldn't—there was something in his eyes that made her hesitate.

“I'm fighting for _us_ , Ray,” he said, his throat thick with his own words. “Don't you see...? They're accepting me. Accepting this. Even though people get hurt during the duel, they're still entertained.”

Zarc smiled at her, but there was something wrong about it.

“Remember, you used to—you used to almost cry, every time you thought about the times when you hurt someone with your powers, but—but now, listen, they're cheering. They're cheering. They...they're going to accept us—accept people like us.”

Ray's lips parted. His touch felt cold all of a sudden, and she stood up, letting his hand slip away from her face.

“This...this is wrong,” she whispered. “This is _wrong,_ Zarc. This isn't the way...this isn't the way to make people accept us—accept what we can do. Violence isn't the way to make them understand...it's just—it's just hurting you.”

She swallowed.

“You have to stop,” she whispered. “Please....Zarc...you have to stop.”

. . .

_there will always be something you cannot control_

_we will set you free_

_your salvation has begun_

. . .

“I'm telling you, Ray, there's something not quite right about that kid.”

Ray fiddled with the circuit board that her father had tossed away onto his desk a few minutes ago. It was totally fried, and her father was sweating over fixing it. She glanced over his shoulder.

 _Ah. That's what's wrong with it_ , she thought. She didn't say anything, though, deciding to let him fiddle. It always made him feel better. She tossed the circuit board between her hands like a ball as she pulled both her legs up into the little nook on his laboratory wall that she had nestled herself in.

“He has far too much fun with those violent duels of his,” her father continued as he poked at the wires with his screwdriver. He shook his head, wiping his forehead above his goggles with the back of his arm. “Sure, the crowd enjoys it, but what happens when someone gets seriously hurt? They should really implement some kind of _rules_. Fair play sort of thing.”

“Right,” said Ray, knowing he wasn't really listening to her, he just wanted to talk. Usually, she was okay with being the springboard for his rambles, but today, she felt like a coiled spring that was about to explode.

 _Stop talking about him_ , she wanted to scream. _Stop talking about him like you know him._

“I hope you two don't end up in the same match,” he said with a huff, leaning back from his work. “In fact, I'd really appreciate it if you use one of your switch requests if you get set up with him—I don't want you to get hurt.”

_Not me. He'd never hurt me. I'm...I'm more likely to hurt him._

Her stomach turned as she saw him at the back of her head, his sunken eyes and wild smile after a duel, a face that didn't suit him at all. Was...was she really so sure that he would never hurt her?

“Ray, are you listening? I said that you should—”

“I heard,” she said, standing with a jolt and tossing the circuit back onto the table. “The problem is in circuit four, it's fallen off it's track.”

She turned up towards the stairs, leaving her father staring down at his machine to see if she was right. She was going to go talk to Zarc again.

She had to get through to him eventually....

...right?

. . .

_no light in sight_

_it's a world of chaos but don't lose hope_

_you are the reason why I still dream_

. . .

This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.

Ray trembled, her hands pressed to the sooty ground as she stared out at the bleak world that she had once called her home. Fire sprouted in the distance, screams carried across on the still air. The sky was heavy with soot and ash and smoke and clouds. It was like the whole world had already given up.

At the back of her head, she could still sense him—sense Zarc, and his dragons. Their rumbling anger, the rage that rippled through the air towards her. She felt like she was going to choke on it, and one hand raised up to her throat to press against it. A lump rose up in her throat.

This wasn't real. It couldn't be _real_.

“T-there's still a chance,” her father was mumbling. “A duelist—a duelist could still defeat him. With the right cards, they could bring him down. I just have to...I just have to...”

 _Bring him down_.

It took everything she had not to scream. Gods— _Zarc_. He was....he was gone, already, wasn't he?? The grinning boy that hunched over cards to protect them with his own body—he was gone.

She dug her fingers into the ground, and she could almost feel his lips on hers. Could almost smell him, pressed up against her, his arms wrapped around her shoulders as he breathed into her neck and sent shudders down her spine.

“ _Someday, we'll make a world where everybody understands and respects the monsters. You and me, Ray, we're going to change the world.”_

She hugged herself, the tears flowing freely now. She could still see it—his smile, that bright exuberance, her own lifting spirits as she imagined what kind of world that would be. He had given her so much _hope._

“This isn't it,” she mumbled. “This isn't—this isn't the world you wanted.”

Her father put his hand on her shoulder as she started to shake and sob. But he didn't know. He couldn't know—couldn't possibly understand why she was sobbing.

“Come back,” she mumbled, words choked away by her tears. “Come back.”

. . .

_I'll be there, hold on_

_I'll save you somehow – so where are you now?_

_I'll reach you by dawn before you can be turned_

_sweet innocence burned_

. . .

She left her father in her dust, gasping through a tightening throat. She had to get there—she had to get there first. She had to—had to make it to Zarc.

She let out a loud screech as she pushed off to leap up on a broken building, as though that would make her jump higher. She hopped from landing to landing, trying to make her way as high as she could—somewhere Zarc could see her. Somewhere—somewhere where she could call out to him. Her heart was so loud in her ears that she couldn't even hear herself gasping for breath.

There he was!!

She could see the huge, looming shadow that hung over the city, glowing green running down its edges like a horrible poison. If she could just get up a little higher—

Ah! There!

By some strange, unnatural power, she could see a line of stones hovering in the air, leading up to a huge platform in the middle of the city. It was like Zarc was ripping apart the laws of nature itself...but that would do, she could get up to his level from there.

She made a bolt for it, yelling again with her leap to the first stone. She barreled up the supernatural stairs, almost falling more than once and scraping her knees, ripping up her suit with each stumble.

She came to a stumbling halt on the top, gasping for breath. There he was, just a tiny figure sprouting like a tumor out of the giant unnatural dragon—she could feel their rage like a tsunami from this distance, and she almost couldn't breathe.

But she could breathe enough to scream one word.

“ _ZARC!”_

. . .

_the fallen angels arrive let them know_

_that it's the pain that makes us so human after all_

_all I see is a dream out of reach_

_our fragile precious world i'll protect and rise to the call_

. . .

Zarc swung towards her immediately, burning red eyes staring out from his strange new form.

A smile broke over his face.

“Ray!” he said. Her heart almost stopped at the joy that he heard in his voice saying her name—for a split second, she was back in the park again, lying against him with his big grin shining down at her.

His human form swung down towards them, meeting her only feet away. The dragon's maw hovered just overhead, a horrifying ceiling that snarled down at her.

Ray gasped for air, the cards that could end Zarc clutched against her breast. But she didn't lift her arm, didn't activate her duel disk. Her chest _hurt_. She felt like she was going to throw up, seeing him like this. She wanted to run over to him, throw her arms around him, pull him free and drag him against her until everything was okay again.

But nothing could ever be okay again, could it?

Not after this. Not after what he had done.

But...but she wanted to believe. She wanted to believe that she could...she could bring him back.

She swallowed thickly. She took a step forward.

“Zarc,” she mumbled. “Zarc....you have to stop this.”

She had to do something. She had to save the world....

She had to save _him._

. . .

_I don't know if I have lost you yet_

_do they control you like a little marionette_

. . .

Zarc's face fell immediately, and his lip curled.

“Of course,” he muttered. “Of _course_ they'd send you...they tried everything else...”

Ray shook her head.

“No one sent me, Zarc, no one sent me. I came here myself—I came for you.”

“Don't _lie_ ,” Zarc hissed, and for a moment, his voice was something else entirely—not Zarc at all, certainly not her Zarc. “Don't lie to me, Ray! I thought I was worth more to you than that!”

“I'm not lying!” she said, a panic rising through her. “Zarc, please, I'm not lying, I came here for you, just for you. I want to talk to you.”

Zarc shook his head, rising back a bit. Ray almost screamed, running halfway towards him, to stop him from leaving—he couldn't leave, not yet, not before she had said what she had to say—

“They're using you, Ray,” Zarc said. “Don't you see?? They're just using you!”

. . .

_i'll cut the string if you'd only come with me_

_let me free the wings of your soul so you can fly_

. . .

He reached out a hand to her, his shining red eyes wide with...hope? Love? She didn't know, but it wasn't the rage that had been there before.

“Come with me, Ray,” he whispered, and she shuddered at the sound of her name. She felt like she was somewhere else, for a moment—somewhere quiet, soft, dark, nothing but the warmth of his skin under her lips as he moaned softly, his hands tightening around her back as he whispered her name over and over again—

She shook away the memories, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat.

“No, Zarc,” she whispered.

“Ray, please,” he said. “I've seen you—I've seen how...how broken you are.”

Ray shook her head, raising her hands to the sides of her head to clutch against it, the cards pressed against her temple. She was going to cry. She didn't want to hear this.

“You always hold back so much because you're afraid of what people will do when they find out what you can do,” Zarc said. “You don't laugh when you're around other people—I've only ever seen you smile, really smile, when we're alone.”

He stretched his hand out further towards her, reaching for her, desperate, his fingers outstretched.

“We can change that,” he said. “We can make a better world. A world where you don't have to hide yourself anymore—look, look at all the power I've gained from these people supporting my power—it must be fate, don't you think?? We were meant for this—you and I.”

“Stop,” she whispered. “Please stop.”

“We're going to change the world,” he said. “I'm going to set you free, Ray.”

. . .

_i've been waiting here calling to you all this time_

_can you feel the wind? let me lead you to the sky_

. . .

“I don't need to be set free,” Ray said.

Zarc shook his head.

“This world wasn't made for people like us,” he said. “They want to hurt us, Ray. They want to _use_ us. They want to take and take and take and never give anything back. You know that..you hate them too, don't you?”

She couldn't....she couldn't disagree with him. But she didn't say anything aloud. She hated this—she hated hearing this from Zarc...she hated looking at him like this, twisted and angry and hateful and...and where was he...where was her Zarc?

“But we can change it,” he said. “You can become one with us, too, I know you can, you have that power too. Come with us, Ray...come with _me_. We can change this world. Just us. We'll make a better world...a more beautiful one.”

This wasn't him. This wasn't Zarc. Everything that came out of his lips right now was—cancer. She choked on her own tears, pressing one hand against her mouth. His hand was still stretched towards hers. Still waiting for her to accept it.

For a moment, her free hand trailed upwards, moved for his. Her hand hovered just over his.

She wanted to take it. She wanted to take his hand. She wanted to...she wanted to go to that world with him, the beautiful one where they could live in peace together that he was describing.

Somewhere in the distance, another plume of smoke rose up. Her eyes reflected in a flash the broken, destroyed world around her, and she wondered...how many poor monster's cards had been burned up or destroyed in all of this...? How many others like them were dead?

“Can't you see it, Ray?” he whispered.

_Don't say things like that—don't talk with that tone, I can't—I can't—_

She let her hand drop away from his.

“No,” she said. “I can't.”

. . .

_no light in sight_

_it's a world of chaos but don't lose hope_

_you are the reason why I still dream_

. . .

Zarc's face changed in a flash—his hopeful gaze contorted with rage.

“You— _betrayer—_ ” he hissed, his voice cracking into a roar as the dragon head over him opened up and screeched. “You're just like—you're just like everyone else!! I thought I could trust you, Ray! I thought I could trust you!”

Ray closed her eyes, biting back a sob.

He stood in front of her, for a moment, him with his big grin and sparkling yellow eyes, throwing an arm over her shoulder, standing in front of her when someone from her old school that still remembered her powers threw a bottle at her, his arms wrapping around her and protecting her.

She had come out here to find him. Because...because part of her still wanted to believe in that. In that hope. In that beautiful dream of him with her hand in his.

“I thought I could trust you too,” she whispered.

. . .

_i'll be there hold on_

_I'll save you somehow so where are you now?_

_I'll reach you by dawn before you disappear the one thing I fear_

. . .

“I'm trying to save you!” he screamed. “They'll hurt you—they'll use you! They'll break you! Why won't you let me save you?”

He was crying.

That hurt more than anything else.

Ray lifted her arm and turned on her duel disk, tears rolling down her cheeks as she slid all four cards onto the disk.

 _The sun is rising_ , she thought. She could see it, just a tiny bit, a crack of light under the clouds at the very edge of the horizon. The clouds were starting to clear as wind exploded around her from the activated cards—she could feel it now, the energy coursing through her, the moon beaming down on her as the flowers all turned up towards her face and birds suddenly filled the sky with cries and screams.

“You can't do this!” Zarc screamed. “You can't do this!”

Ray swallowed as she raised her arm up towards the sky to accept the power that was rippling through her.

She would not cry. She would not...cry...

She would not close her eyes, either, meeting Zarc's rage filled gaze, red and burning with hate. It wasn't him, after all. Zarc had already disappeared a long time ago.

She was already alone.

. . .

_the fallen angels arrive let them know_

_that it's the pain that makes us so human after all_

_all I see is a dream out of reach_

_our fragile precious world they'll discard it and rise to the call_

. . .

Zarc screamed as the first wave of energy reached him.

“Ray!” he screamed. _“Ray!”_

He was in so much pain—the crack in his voice cut through her and she gasped, her knees almost buckling.

“Ray, don't do this!” he screamed. “If you do this—humans will destroy this world anyway!! You know they will! They'll ruin everything—they'll throw it away, like they throw away the cards and monsters that they call trash!”

Ray shook her head.

“No, they won't,” she whispered. “Because...because I'm going to do this, Zarc. I'm going to build a new world.”

She clenched her raised hand into a fist as the she felt the power slowly, slowly ripping her to pieces. She couldn't hold this for much longer. But if Zarc was going to disappear...then so was she.

She gasped as she felt her eyes start to roll up into her head, Zarc's screams rattling over her.

“This is—this is unforgivable!”

 _I know_ , Ray thought. _I know._

_Goodbye, Zarc._

. . .

_if you wanna fight with me_

_then go ahead it's destiny_

_cause all I wanna do is set you free_

_you will be the death of me_

. . .

They met when they were both just shy of eighteen.

He was the one with the smile, the grin. She was the one with the sarcastic smirk and the rolling eyes. They were both the ones that got themselves flung headlong into trouble whenever it presented itself.

“I can't believe you actually took that fall just for the show,” Zarc said, shaking his head as he cleaned the gash on her arm.

“Ow!!” Ray swore, jerking away. “That stings!”

“It's gonna sting, you numbskull. Honestly. You're going to be the death of me.”

“Not if you're the death of me first, Mr. I-Throw-Myself-Down-Wells-For-Trading-Cards.”

He snorted, taking her arm back to finish cleaning out the gash. It stung a lot, but she tried to hold still this time.

“I love you,” she mumbled.

“Huh?” he said, looking up.

“I said you look like a nerd, now are you almost done?”

. . .

_the power of our army has been cut with a scythe_

_and if we lose you to them we might never survive_

. . .

They're shattering. Ray can feel it—everything is breaking apart, she can't hold it anymore. Zarc is screaming—she can't tell if he's actually screaming or if it's echoing in her head like a siren.

“I love you,” is all she can whisper. “...goodbye.”

. . .

_you can leap but you must first believe_

_just one step at a time_

_so keep your head up, boy and you'll be fine_

. . .

“....and this is Yuya. Say hi to Yuya, Yuzu! ….ah—Yuzu, don't cry, why are you crying?? It's okay, it's okay, baby girl...” “Augh, Yuya, not you too?? Don't cry, don't cry, it's okay...”

“M-my name is Yugo! You are the prettiest girl I have ever seen!” “Pfft, what kind of a way to start a conversation is that? I'm Rin, though. It's nice to meet you!”

“My heart always feels...so funny around you, Yuto. It's like...it's like I feel like crying...is that...weird?” “No, I...I don't think so. I feel the same sometimes...like my heart is clenching up...”

“Selena, what's wrong? Why are you crying?” “He's...where is...he...? He's supposed to be...here....” “Who's supposed to be here?”

. . .

_if you wanna fight with me_

_then go ahead it's destiny_

. . .

She felt him. One last time before everything shattered. She managed to grab hold of him—touch his hand, feel the warmth between her fingers before everything ended. Was he free...? Had she broken him out of his rage, and hate? Had she...managed to build someplace where he could be safe and happy?

Her hand slowly slid from his as the cracks in her soul started to pull apart.

_Please._

_Meet me again._

_I love you._

… _until next time, then…_

. . .

_cause all I wanna do is set you free_

_you will be the death of me_

 


End file.
